Posts with Category "Sales Research"

Fred Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect and creator of the Net Promoter System, found that most corporations lose 50% of their customers every 5 years, 50% of employees in 4 years, and 50% of investors in less than one year.

Retaining current customers costs 6-7x less than acquiring news ones, and improving customer retention rates by a mere 5% can increase profit per customer by 25%-95%. So it makes sense that top companies focus on building relationships, increasing loyalty, and selling more to current customers as a growth strategy.

Based on our extensive research in strategic account management, we've identified 10 steps you can take to replicate their successes.

Ask 100 sellers at 100 companies why their customers buy from them, and you're likely to hear 100 answers with the same underlying theme: the value we provide.

Sellers describe their value to us in a number of ways: we get results. Our relationships are very close. They get from us what they've always wanted (but never gotten) from other companies. We bring innovative solutions to the table. And so on.

Pretty obvious, right? To win sales you have to maximize value.

In practice there's no denying that sales winners are much better at getting buyers to perceive maximum value than the rest. In fact, in our research, only one factor—"overall value was superior"—was of top importance to buyers in all of the categories we studied (e.g. how winners win the initial sale, what drives repeat business, what drives referrals, etc.).

Before you can learn how to communicate value, however, you need to understand some key concepts about value.

Good negotiators have the ability to recognize the negotiation style of the other party.

When a buyer comes to the negotiation in partner mode, it allows you to work collaboratively to create possibilities that expand the pie and result in the best possible agreement for both sides.

But what about when your buyer takes a different approach? What if your buyer is just trying to get the price reduced, get more from you for less, or something else altogether?

Despite the benefits of a partner-style negotiation, you need to know how to deal with positional buyer tactics when they arise.

In this infographic, we share 18 of the most common tactics a buyer might use, what they look like, and how you can be prepared for and respond to each so you can successfully negotiate with buyers on their terms.